I’ve lived in Florida for the last 33 years. I’ve literally seen it all regarding bad weather and natural disasters and so forth. In 1999 my friends, co-workers and family endured one of the worst things of our lives which is that the country I live in, Volusia County, was on fire and the surrounding areas as well as the Ocala Forest. As a result of the fires, black bears fled the forest and ended up going to more populated areas, which caused the legislature to try to kill the bears in Florida. These animals are in danger. The Paper Bear tells a story of  why these animals are important to the ecosystem  of Florida. 

A father (Jason Burkey)  who is a nature photographer and zoologist/mammalogist. He is keeping track of a female black bear named Sala, who lives in the forest in Walton County, Florida. He takes his son Max  (Max Ivutin) with him on this particular excursion into the forests of the Panhandle of Florida. Through a number of different things, he showed his son why the forest, its ecosystem, and the bears that he’s been tracking are so important. His father before him and hopefully his son will follow in his footsteps.Caring about the wilderness and its creatures is very important to him. 

As mentioned, I live in Florida, and I care about the wilderness and the beaches, lakes, rivers, and everything in between. More people than ever are moving into this state. That causes issues for the wildlife and everything else. All the building doesn’t do the creatures and areas any favors. This film deals with these situations and philosophies.It shows many scenes of animals in their natural habitat. The main story is about this father son relationship and learning about all of these things.  It’s a very educational story. 

Part of what makes the film so interesting is that there is a framing sequence, and in-between the lice action scenes are three animated segments featuring an intrepid bear named Max who lives by the ocean on a beach. He has various encounters with other bears Tala and Cici, whom he goes on to seek with  and survive a dangerous world together. The animated scenes are done with 2D hand drawn animation like the old days. There is also a score that has been added to these sequences as well. The two separate stories within the same film worked quite well together. They created a great dichotomy in the film opposite one another.

There are two movies here that are both important.  The framing sequences tie the animated sequences together to create a longer film. The length is a bit of an issue because I felt like it dragged a little in the middle. Especially when the animated sequences weren’t going on. There definitely could be some editing to tighten up the story, though. Even though I did like the film quite a bit the way it is. If a distributor picks this movie up, I’m sure they’ll do just that. 

The actors who star in the film were good, but I thought they could have been a little better. Both of the main stars are unknown, so I’ll give a pass with the delivery of their lines. As they aren’t seasoned professionals, though they came across as a bit wooden in their performances.  Still, they did a good job and got what the director wanted to get from them. They had emotional moments and came across the right way in the context of the overall story. I did like the actor who played the father, though. He had a caring and nurturing nature to him that I liked a lot. 

The Paper Bear has a lot going for it . It’s an educational story that many teachers and parents can get behind. The message of caring about the wilderness and the creatures that live in the forests and so forth is a good one. The two main actors who played the father and son were serviceable and did a good enough job. The story as a whole was a very relatable one for me as I’ve lived in Florida for 33 years, and I care about the natural resources of the state like the forests.beached, lakes, and rivers. I alo been through quite a bit since I’ve lived here, so I understand everything involving the fires and so forth burning the areas that the bears and other creatures live in. Those parts of the story hit me pretty hard. I hope this film gets distribution and as many eyes as possible get to see it. It’s that good, and I loved every bit of it. Hopefully, others will as well.

4 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen